Toto Wolff will remain team boss of the German Formula 1 racing team Mercedes for another three years. The Austrian, who celebrated his 52nd birthday on Friday last week, announced this on Monday (January 15, 2024) in an interview with the British newspaper “The Telegraph”.
Wolff will thus lead the team, in which he holds 33.3 percent of the shares, until the end of 2026. “At the end of the day, as a shareholder, I want to achieve the best return”Wolff explained in the interview. “And I’ll get the most out of my investment if we win.”
“Let’s do it again”
He emphasized that he would not stick to his position if he believed that someone else could do it better. Together with the main people responsible for the other two team shareholders, Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius and Sir Jim Ratcliffe from Ineos, they decided: “‘Let’s do it again’. The risk is boreout rather than burnout.”
Wolff has been in office since 2013. Under the leadership of the former racing driver from Vienna, the Silver Arrows won the title in the drivers’ championship seven times and even eight times in the constructors’ championship.
Supremacy lost to Red Bull
In the past three years, however, Red Bull has taken over dominance and won three times in a row in the drivers’ championship thanks to Max Verstappen and in the constructors’ championship in the last two years.
The new Mercedes racing car, with which record world champion Lewis Hamilton and his British compatriot and teammate George Russell want to attack Red Bull and turn the world championship fight around, will be presented on February 14th.
New season starts on March 2nd
The new season – with 24 Grand Prix, the longest in the history of the premier motorsport class – begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2nd.